Question: Will different noises or sounds effect the number of birds that come to eat?
Introduction and Research: Imagine that everybody in the world had perfect pitch. Well that's what it's like for birds. They hear in absolute pitch where we hear in relative pitch. Birds also hear a lot faster than us. In the time that we hear one sound they hear ten. Different species hear different pitches better than others. Pigeons hear low sounds better and I bet that song birds hear higher frequencies better. Predatory calls are normally high pitched and it seems that birds are more likely to be afraid of that. It would cause more of a disturbance to the birds, song birds and seagulls.
Hypothesis: I believe that birds might be more agitated by higher tone than lower ones. I do not even know if they will be able to hear lower tones. I believe that high pitched tone may make birds fly away from the feeders or not come at all, but that they may not notice the low ones.
Variables:
Independent variable: different pitches or frequency of sound
Dependent variable: how many birds eat seed (or popcorn for the seagulls)
Fill the feeder (have it that the quantity of food does not limit how many birds may come)
Set up a video camera on a tripod pointed at the bird feeders hanging in front of Tommy's room windows on a nice day when birds are out. Do this from around 9:45 am - 10:30 am (Second period through break (this was when I had science class and I could make sure that the camera did not walk away on its own))
Do step one with no noise to get a baseline or a control to use when you start adding noise.
The next day if the weather is still good repeat step one but add the high pitched tone (#1704). Do this by setting up the computer next to the inside of the windows by the bird feeders. Then take a stool outside and set it up right outside the window that the computer is on the other side of. Put the speakers on the stool and have somebody from inside open the window enough that you can pass the cords inside to them to plug into the computer. Have them start the high pitched tone and adjust the volume so that it's loud enough but not unbearable. (Remember that the people inside Tommy's room will be able to hear the noise too.)
Next day, repeat step 4 but with the low pitched tone (#174).
Seagull experiments
Go to the beach for a 3-5 day period (3 mornings). (I went over parent/teacher conferences.)
Around 9:30 am go to the beach and take one bag of microwave popcorn that has been microwaved for around 2 min (or until done) and shake it out onto the beach in a concentrated area. Toss pieces into the air to tempt the seagulls and then once they know that the popcorn is there move away up higher on the beach and use the iPod to video for about 15 min. (That's how long it took them to eat it for me.) Record notes. (Note: I did the baseline collection the day before around 6:00 pm but with the same methods described here. All the other data collection with the different tones was collected in the mornings.)
The next day repeat step 2 but this time add the high pitched tone (#1704). Do this by starting the noise first on the iPad a few feet away from where you will put the food so that the seagulls do not hurt the iPad. Make sure that the high pitched tone does not drive the people on the beach crazy. (Note: watch out for vehicles on the beach). Only play the noise for 10 min and then stop it and see what happens.
Repeat step 3 but with the low pitched tone (#174).
After you have collected all your data look at it and make a graph to show the song birds and a separate graph to show that data form the seagulls. You can make a third graph to compare both sets of data or just note the comparison. (If for say, no birds came to the bird feeders note that too (that happened to me)).
Data:
Song Bird Data:
I never got any song birds to come so that part of my study is inconclusive.
Seagull Data: Observationsabout the Seagulls: Baseline:
20-30 birds of different sizes and different types and different coloration
Had to be enticed and the food had to be spread out in a condensed area on the ground.
dove for food and then ate in air
one piece at a time
circled more than ate
cycled through
got the impression of a hierarchy but could not tell
fought over food
made noises
whole process took about 15 minutes (plus 10 minutes for me to figure out their feeding pattern)
High Pitched Tone:
at most 4 birds eating at a time
all other birds out at sea
What happened when I turned the noise off:
10 birds eating right after the noise went away
5 minutes after the noise went away 20 birds were circling over head
all the birds returned to their normal flying pattern over the beach
Low Pitched Tone:
20 birds right away
one bird already seemed trained
after 8 minutes something scared them and they all flew away (not sure what scared the birds)
What happened when I turned the noise off:
4 birds settled a little bit away on the sand
a dog scared the 4 birds back to the food
almost immediately after the 4 birds came back about half of the original 20 came back (10 birds)
The color black is for no tone and the color purple is for when the tone is playing. The vertical striped columns are the high pitched tone and the checkered columns are the low pitched tone.
Conclusion:
I never got any song birds to come to the bird feeders in the times that I collected data and that makes that part inconclusive. Next time I would start this earlier and be able to get more than three days of data. Maybe next time I would get birds. Whether the tone affects the seagulls was very conclusive. The data that I got from the seagulls supported my hypothesis. The seagulls would have nothing to do with the food when the high pitched tone was playing. It was really interesting. They were all out at sea and none were over land when the noise was playing. As soon as it stopped they all came back to the land. They didn't all eat but they came back in from the water. It seems that the high pitched tone really bothers them. They came faster with the low pitched tone and I think that it may have been calming for them. Maybe we should start making bird feeders with a low purr. :)
Bird Hearing and How It Effects Feeding
Question: Will different noises or sounds effect the number of birds that come to eat?
Introduction and Research: Imagine that everybody in the world had perfect pitch. Well that's what it's like for birds. They hear in absolute pitch where we hear in relative pitch. Birds also hear a lot faster than us. In the time that we hear one sound they hear ten. Different species hear different pitches better than others. Pigeons hear low sounds better and I bet that song birds hear higher frequencies better. Predatory calls are normally high pitched and it seems that birds are more likely to be afraid of that. It would cause more of a disturbance to the birds, song birds and seagulls.
Hypothesis: I believe that birds might be more agitated by higher tone than lower ones. I do not even know if they will be able to hear lower tones. I believe that high pitched tone may make birds fly away from the feeders or not come at all, but that they may not notice the low ones.
Variables:
Independent variable: different pitches or frequency of sound
Dependent variable: how many birds eat seed (or popcorn for the seagulls)
Materials:
Song Bird experiments
Seagull experiments
Methods:
Song Bird experiments
Seagull experiments
After you have collected all your data look at it and make a graph to show the song birds and a separate graph to show that data form the seagulls. You can make a third graph to compare both sets of data or just note the comparison. (If for say, no birds came to the bird feeders note that too (that happened to me)).
Data:
Song Bird Data:
I never got any song birds to come so that part of my study is inconclusive.
Seagull Data:
Observations about the Seagulls:
Baseline:
High Pitched Tone:
- at most 4 birds eating at a time
- all other birds out at sea
What happened when I turned the noise off:Low Pitched Tone:
- 20 birds right away
- one bird already seemed trained
- after 8 minutes something scared them and they all flew away (not sure what scared the birds)
What happened when I turned the noise off:Conclusion:
I never got any song birds to come to the bird feeders in the times that I collected data and that makes that part inconclusive. Next time I would start this earlier and be able to get more than three days of data. Maybe next time I would get birds. Whether the tone affects the seagulls was very conclusive. The data that I got from the seagulls supported my hypothesis. The seagulls would have nothing to do with the food when the high pitched tone was playing. It was really interesting. They were all out at sea and none were over land when the noise was playing. As soon as it stopped they all came back to the land. They didn't all eat but they came back in from the water. It seems that the high pitched tone really bothers them. They came faster with the low pitched tone and I think that it may have been calming for them. Maybe we should start making bird feeders with a low purr. :)
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